Warning

Tough weekend for Trapper men

The Northwest College Trappers lost a pair of road men’s basketball games over the weekend. Northwest fell by an 84-67 count at Central Wyoming on Friday before suffering a 104-90 setback on Saturday.

The Trappers also trounced Little Big Horn College 112-45 in sub-region action last week.

“We were down five at halftime of the Central game, and I felt fortunate to only be down by five,” said Trapper head coach Andy Ward. “We were plagued by turnovers. We missed some easy shots and we gave up 11 3-point shots to them. Our effort wasn’t where it needed to be to win on the road or to win anywhere for that matter.”

The Trappers also surrended 15 offensive rebounds in the contest.

“That’s far too many,” Ward said of the number. “They just out-played us.”

Northwest’s effort improved markedly on Saturday in Rock Springs. The Trappers trailed by just two at the half, but were buried under a blizzard of free throws in the second half.

“Western hit a 3-point shot at the buzzer to end the first half, and I thought that was a big momentum shift for them,” Ward said. “The big difference was at the free throw line though. We were within six points late and they hit their shots and we didn’t.”

For the game, Western was 28-for-32 at the charity stripe. The Trappers connected on just 13 of their 23 attempts.

Pasos finished with a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds. Four other Trappers also found their way into double figures on a night when the team shot better than 50 percent from the floor.

Corey Clement led that group with 13 points. Ty Ackelson and Keeton Tucker each chipped in with 12 points and Chantz Ramos knocked down 10 points.

At Little Big Horn last week, the Trappers never gave the host Rams a chance to entertain upset thoughts. Northwest surged to a 60-11 lead at halftime on the way to a 67-point sub-region win.

“We came out with a lot of energy in that game, which was vital because of the sub-region implications,” Ward said. “We kept ourselves in a position to possibly get that number one seed.”

William Walker was a beast in the paint for the Trappers, netting 31 points and 10 rebounds. Tevin Rumley added 16 points while Clement and Ackelson joined in with double-digit scoring. Reader dished out seven of the Trappers’ season-best 40 assists.

The Trappers host Little Big Horn this Thursday in the team’s only scheduled game this week.